ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie has taken aim at a deal made by the Turnbull government, bowing to One Nation's "political vendetta" against the government broadcaster, in order to pass its changes to media ownership regulation.

In a provocative address to the Friends of the ABC on Friday night, Ms Guthrie lashed the government for using the ABC as a political bargaining chip and commercial media executives looking for "scapegoats" in a challenging landscape.

"The ABC's role in the media law reform debate was supposed to be as an interested bystander," Ms Guthrie said.

"We had no skin in the game. Or so we thought. We now find ourselves very much impacted by the deal-making and with a real need to ensure that the public interest – as opposed to vested interest – is protected. Diversity on one side is shrinking. While on the other side, the role and ability of the ABC to provide real choice and a vital public good is being assailed."

As part of the government's deal to clinch support from Pauline Hanson's One Nation for its media reform package, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield agreed to bring legislation to Parliament to require the ABC to be "fair and balanced", boost its regional services and publish the salaries of staff earning more than $200,000.

Related Quotes

Company Profile

"The proposed changes do not further the public interest. They do not "improve" the ABC as some have suggested. They interfere with the right and ability of the ABC Board to do its work and override the Privacy Act to force salary disclosures on our employees that no other public agency is required to do," Ms Guthrie said.

Ms Guthrie said she expected the proposed changes to the ABC Act to be introduced to Parliament in the next few weeks and argued it and its Charter should not be tampered with to suit commercial and political agendas.

"Legislation designed to further a political vendetta by one party uncomfortable with being scrutinised by our investigative programs is not good policy-making," she said.

The ABC has subjected One Nation to a raft of critical reporting, including questions over the use of a plane during the 2016 election campaign, but Senator Hanson denied her amendments were retribution and said they simply reflected the new realities facing the media landscape.

"Neither is using the ABC Act as a bargaining chip in industry machinations that have nothing to do with the national broadcaster."

Ms Guthrie argued there is no pressing need to change the ABC Act or its Charter.

"There is no evidence that the Charter is impacting on the commercial models of existing local companies. Assertions that the ABC is abusing the Charter or exploiting its confines are just plain wrong. They are hurled at the ABC by executives and media commentators who are simply looking for scapegoats for their own woes in a disrupted landscape. "

Ms Guthrie said the ABC is not the cause of Fairfax Media, New Corp, Nine, Seven, Ten or Foxtel's problems.

"My advice to them is that attacking the national broadcaster does not – and will never - constitute a viable business model. Restricting the ABC's right to use digital platforms, which appears to be the clear intent behind pressuring the Government for a competitive neutrality inquiry, will not protect them from digital disruption," she said.

Ms Guthrie acknowledged media ownership laws need updating, given they were legislated before the internet, but she questioned whether the changes and "convoluted cross-trading" to get Senate support for the changes will actually help media diversity.

"It will, in fact, achieve the reverse. The objective behind the changes, clearly stated by media CEOs, is to allow existing players to build scale through mergers and acquisitions to compete with the new global giants like Google, Facebook and Netflix," she said.

"I wish them luck: a viable local commercial sector is also important to diversity. But as a former Google executive, I question whether consolidating the number of local players to build size is the panacea the CEOs are proclaiming it to be."